A Mother Always Knows
by yaoi kitsune
Summary: There are time's in a mothers life when she gets a glimpse of her child's future. This was Mrs Shindou's.


_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation. If I did I would be exceedingly rich and would have bought my own island by now. As I'm still a poverty stricken student living off instant noodles, it's safe to say that Shuichi and the gang are not mine.**_

There are times in a child's life when a parent is given a glimpse of what their child may become. If a parent is paying attention, these brief instances can shine a light on their child's personality, future career or success. In the case of Mrs Shindou, her glimpse was of her son's sexuality.

It took place in a preschool like many others. A large building with a backyard scattered with play equipment made to excite the young. Children as young as two and as old as five were running around in an attempt to explore what the world of day-care had to offer; in this case that was new and inventive ways to cause havoc and injury with the most innocent seeming objects.

You think that's just a slippery-dip to slide down. To a precocious four year old it's a tool to test their flying abilities that they of course know they have. To a vengeful girl, the sandpit becomes a means to bury that boy who cut off Barbie's hair. In this environment, the teachers and volunteering parents attempted to limit the possible damage by engaging the little terrors in educational activities.

On the day when little Shuichi Shindou's sexuality decided to raise its head to Mrs Shindou, the educational topic of choice was marriage.

It seemed like a harmless enough topic. There were plenty of roles to be filled: a pastor, a bride and groom, the congregation, the flower girls and of course the ring bearer. However there was one aspect of the proceedings that they forgot to take into account…the kissing of the bride.

To some this might not seem like such a big deal. They're children. A kiss on the cheek will do. Unfortunately, at this stage in a child's development they are greatly concerned with the concept of boy germs and girl germs. The boys are convinced that the girls have cooties, a dangerous disease that is contracted through contact with the mouth and must be avoided at all costs. The girls on the other hand know for a fact that boy germs are deadly and are transferred through touch.

So as chaos raged, with adults attempting to convince the children that "No, Maya will not die if Kamui kisses her cheek" and "Kamui's face will not melt off if his lips come into contact with Maya's cheek", one cherubic boy, his head adorned with bubble-gum pink hair and his face dominated by doe-like amethyst eyes watched the proceedings.

As the noise began to reach even higher decibels he slowly started to fidget. He had never been known for his patience and as far as he was concerned these precious moments being wasted are ones he would never get back. With no resolution in sight, he gave an exasperated huff, grabbed the hand of the nearest child (who just so happened to be his best, and only, friend Hiro) and cried out "We'll do it".

As the class quietens down and turns to see who volunteered, Shuichi drags his reluctant partner to the front of the room. Reaching the teacher, he snatched the veil from her unresisting hands. Looking around for the flowers (because all the stories show the bride with her pretty flowers) he saw them in his mother's hands. In the universal language of children to their mothers, he made grabbing motions towards her, and as he knew they would be, the flowers are quickly passed over. Jamming the veil on his head and clutching the pretty flowers in his fists, he returned his attention to the teacher.

"I'm the bride," he stated in a tone not to be argued with. "And Hiro's my husband".

As though sensing his 'husbands' reluctance, he turned his best puppy-dog eyes to Hiro, eye's which threatened to drown the school in tears should he be refused.

Hiro stared at his small friend as though debating the merits of refusing and the inevitable wailing that would result. With a sigh he decided it was best to avoid the coming tantrum. Shuichi was a drama queen at the best of times and refusal never went over well. This he knew from experience. Facing forward, he threw his shoulders back and adopted the look of a soldier marching toward his death. Mrs Shindou would owe him cookies for this, he decided. Many cookies.

As the teacher gathered her composure and prepared to continue with the mock wedding ('the bride looks like a girl…' she thought), Mrs Shindou watched from the sidelines mourning the loss of her future grandchildren.

This period of mourning passed quickly however, as she remembered her camera. Realising the perfect opportunity to capture incriminating and highly embarrassing footage for her son's 21st birthday, she quickly dug around in her bag before triumphantly brandishing the Lord of Blackmail.

Holding the camera steady, she waited for the perfect moment. As the famous line was spoken to tie to people together for eternity (or until the divorce settlement) she held her breath. When little Shuichi reached up to drag a reluctant Hiro down to kissing level she let her finger hit the shutter, knowing as she did that she will never have a more perfect item for blackmail than this.

Of course, what she didn't anticipate was her sons complete shamelessness as he proudly presented said photo to his blond novelist boyfriend 17 years later while 'subtly' trying to hint that he was perfect wife material and it was about time Yuki popped the question.

'Oh, well.' She thought. 'I may not be able to embarrass Shuichi, but the horror on Eiri Yuki's face certainly makes up for it.'


End file.
